by Zara Zenia
I winced again, “Mikey, you are far from stupid. I don’t want to hear you talk like that about yourself ever again, okay? I just don’t want everyone to know about the alien just yet.”
“Got it, I will be more careful,” he whispered.
Nodding, I pressed my thumb against the scanner and the hovercraft slowly roared to life. It needed to be replaced years ago, but the money just wasn’t there anymore. It shook and rattled as it lifted off the ground. I waited there for a few more seconds, giving it a chance to warm up. Once it was about a foot from the ground I pushed the handlebar forward and we started to move briskly through the streets. Within seconds we were coming up on the outpost wall. I glanced at the two guards and sighed. This was going to be tricky.
“Mikey?” I asked my passenger. “You are going to hear me lie okay? I don’t want them to know what you’ve found until I know it’s safe.”
He nodded his head and said nothing. I knew that he wouldn’t say anything to the contrary to what I was going to say. He was another good kid tossed into a bad situation. His father wasn’t missing though, he was buried in the small outpost cemetery, a victim of the dunes. With two younger sisters and a working mother, he would run errands for me and I would slip him any payment I could. Whether it was drupees or food, he was grateful for it all the same.
As I slowed to a stop, the younger of the two men sauntered over to me. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Instead, I plastered a smile on my face. He was the last person I wanted to deal with knowing how the heavyset man felt about me. My numerous rejections of his advances never seemed to dull his attraction to me. No matter how one-sided it seemed to be. It was the same story with most of the other single men in the outpost. I didn’t want to deal with any of them. The pool wasn’t very deep on Vaxivia.
“How are you doing Zach?” I asked casually.
He winked at me, leaning against the hoverboard. “I’m doing a whole lot better now that you are visiting, Jennifer.”
“Well, unfortunately, this isn’t a social visit. I need to get out to the Jones’ homestead. One of the girls has a bit of the flu. I just want to check on her to clear my mind.”
He glanced around the hoverboard and saw Mikey for the first time. His mood changed at once. As soon as he realized he wasn’t the center of my attention I knew that he was going to be a hard sell.
Zach shook his head, “No can do, Jennifer. We got word today that there might be hostiles in the area. Aren’t supposed to let anyone in or out.”
I gritted my teeth and batted my eyes. Letting my fingers trail off the controls and over to his. He twitched but didn’t move his hand. His eyes lit up and a wide, white grin crossed his face.
“That’s a shame. I was hoping to slip out there real fast, then be back at Sammy’s by quitting time,” I whispered.
He cleared his throat, the smile still on his face. I hated to lie but I knew if he thought I would be at the local pub later, he would let me go. He waved to the man at the gate and they slowly started to open.
“Thank you,” I whispered to him.
He winked at me, “You can thank me later, honey.”
My cheeks flushed red but not out of admiration. I didn’t like having the attention of any man, least of all him. Blushing was my defense mechanism but he didn’t need to know that. My skin felt like it was crawling from where I’d touched him. I was suddenly grateful for the sterilizing solution I had in my bag. I gave him one last smile as I slowly pulled through the gates and let them close behind me. As soon as I rounded the forest and I was out of sight, I pushed the throttle as hard as it would go.
“Where did you see it?” I asked Mikey once we were finally clear.
He pointed to a clearing in the forest, one that hadn’t been there before. It didn’t take me long to realize that the clearing was the aftermath of a large wreck. My stomach started to flutter. I couldn’t believe that Mikey was telling the truth. He wasn’t prone to lying, but your eyes could play tricks on even the most discerning child, especially one with a wild spirit like him. I swallowed hard and followed the trail. The closer we crept to the wreckage, the more I was regretting my decision to bring Mikey with me.
“Whatever you do, stay behind me. Do you understand?” I asked him as we parked.
He nodded his head, ducking between my arms and trying to see the wreckage. I’d never seen a ship like it before. It wasn’t large, maybe a few dozen meters in width without its wings. I briefly glanced around but didn’t see the wings anywhere.
“Why don’t you go find the wings and other wreckage for me. I don’t know what we are going to find when we open the hull, okay?”
Mikey nodded and disappeared off into the woods. The black craft was badly damaged, looking more like an ancient, buried torpedo than a ship. I looked for a door, following a trail of steam as it seeped from a thin seam. Still in shock that Mikey hadn’t been lying, my attention turned to determining if there were any survivors. I was no stranger to aliens, but I kept my small gun close at my side just in case. The ship wasn’t an Infernian vessel, that much was evident.
A low whistle escaped the pod and I stumbled backward, watching in stunned silence as the seam widened as a door opened. In a puff of smoke, the door creaked back on its dented hinges and my mouth fell open. There was someone inside of the pod, and from the small hole poking through the fumes, I could see a man’s chest slowly moving up and down.
“Thank God,” I whispered. He was alive.
When the last of the smoke cleared, I was once again stunned into silence. There wasn’t much blood, less than I had expected. What gave me pause was the alien’s stunning looks. His body was rugged and muscular, with olive-toned skin that I could see where his uniform had torn open. Swallowing back my words, I let my gaze travel up his body to his face. Though his eyes were closed, I could only imagine the beauty that they would behold, if they matched the rest of his figure.
His dark, auburn, hair fell loose down to his shoulders. A strong jaw and thickly lashed eyes rounded out one of the most attractive faces I’d ever seen. When a groan slipped past his lips, I jumped. As his head listlessly turned to the side, I saw the reason he was unconscious. A gaping wound cut through the side of his head. I quickly pushed my fear and wonder aside and reached into my medical bag. Any emotions that I had before were now gone. He was injured and nothing else mattered but keeping him alive.
“Mikey!” I called out.
The child was at my side in a flash. I looked deeply into his eyes, praying there would be enough strength to lift the alien between the two of us.
“We have to get him back to my apartment, and fast,” I whispered to him.
Chapter 3
Zaruv
“I need you and a few of your friends to go and bury the ship. I don’t want the guards to find it just yet, okay? Do you think you can do that?”
“Yes ma’am, I know just the boys to help me.”
“Great, go now. I don’t want you to be here when he wakes up. The fewer people that he talks too, the better it will be okay?”
“I don’t know if I should leave you alone with him. He might be dangerous.”
I couldn’t hide my humor any longer. A grunt slipped past my lips though I kept my eyes closed. I had woken briefly as they were moving me, but my body was not yet healed. My senses were sharp enough that I was easily able to discern my captors were nothing more than a woman and a youthful boy. Both of them humans, which came as a bit of a shock. We weren’t in a military cell, that much I knew. Whatever had happened to my pod I knew that I had this woman to thank for my survival and the lack of bars on the windows. No doubt she had her trepidations about helping me.
As soon as I heard the door and faint sounds of the young man leaving, I moved a little bit. I didn’t want to scare the woman who had helped me. Instantly, the shuffling of feet stopped and I felt her sweet, warm body press against mine as she sat down on the bed I’d been laid on. Her hand brushed across my forehead, pulling ba
ck the bandage that had protected my wound.
I opened my eyes and saw her staring back at me for the first time. She was a rare beauty with hair the color of Infernian lava and piercing emerald eyes. I wanted to reach out and cup her round face, to run my thumb along her plump, cherry lips. Instead, I just gazed at her, mesmerized by her beauty.
“Hello,” she whispered. “My name is Jennifer; do you know where you are?”
I cleared my throat, buying time and wondering how much I should share with her. “Vaxivia, if my escape pod was accurate. Tell me, am I being held prisoner here?”
A shocked look crossed Jennifer’s face, “No. Of course not. I wouldn’t go running around town just yet, though. People don’t generally like newcomers around here and with good reason; they normally bring trouble with them.”
“I wish I could tell you that I won’t have trouble following me, but I can’t be sure,” I muttered in earnest. “Tell me, you are the one who cared for me, yes?”
She nodded her head, “I didn’t think you would survive the cut to your head, but now it’s almost gone. I can’t believe it myself, to be honest.”
I grinned at her, “I have sustained worse, but I thank you anyway. I have a feeling it was your quick actions that kept me out of prison, or whatever it is you have here.”
Jennifer frowned, “We have a bunker, but it hasn’t been used in years. Not many people travel to Vaxivia and even fewer aliens. It’s not like we have a booming industry here.”
“It does seem rather,” I paused, choosing my words carefully, “Desolate.”
“That’s an understatement. So, were you traveling alone? I only found one pod, but Mikey is out looking for more.”
My jaw clenched down, I was a good judge of character and Jennifer seemed like a trustworthy human. Still, I didn’t want her to be put in harm’s way. I needed to be careful about what I shared. At least until I knew her better. Letting my gaze fall over her slender figure, I thought about the many ways I would love to know her more intimately. I’d had many lovers in the past, but she was different. There was a fire inside of her that was burning hot.
“No, there were others. I can only hope that they have fared as well as me.”
“How many?”
“Four in all, my brothers actually. We were attacked and had no choice but to take the pods. However, we were not quick enough in our escape. I fear I have no way of knowing where they have landed.”
“Well,” she said with her brow creased, “I can tell you that they aren’t anywhere around here. It’s a miracle that your pod went undetected. More than one certainly would have raised an alarm.”
“I need to find them. They won’t know what to do.”
“You sound like the oldest brother,” she said with a grin.
“Second, my eldest brother wasn’t traveling with us.”
“Where are you coming from?”
It was a question I wasn’t ready to answer. I quickly started to cough and she leaped into action, trotting off to the small kitchen and fetching me a drink. I enjoyed the view of her rear, but I had bigger problems. The second she found out what I really was, she would panic as many humans did. In my current form, I looked like any number of humanoid creatures, if not a little more handsome. The Dragselians could manipulate our form, shifting between a human appearance and our true identities, dragons.
Though we only brought out our dragons when we needed to fight, I still didn’t know what Jennifer would think of me. As she walked back in with a tall glass of water, something changed. I watched her slender hips swaying as she moved; my eyes traveled up to her tilted head and subtle grin. Sucking in a sharp breath, I made the connection in an instant. I trusted her, as much as I would trust one of my other brothers. Somehow, I was linked to this small and beautiful human. It was fate.
I took a long drink, her careful eyes watching my every move. Looking for any reason to avoid talking about myself, I went for the most obvious approach.
“Do you live here alone?” I asked, the words sounding dull to me.
She rolled her eyes at me, “You are avoiding answering my question. Why should I keep answering yours? That doesn’t seem like a very fair approach.”
“You’re right,” I said with a grin. “My name is Zaruv, you were right to assume that I wasn’t from around here. I don’t want to put you in danger though.”
“Danger? I’m pretty sure that ship sailed as soon as I brought you back to my apartment.” She grinned and added, “Where I live alone.”
Our eyes met and a blush covered her cheeks, it was enough to send the heat down through my loins. Jennifer was doing everything she could to put me at ease. Until my brothers were found though, I didn’t think that was going to happen.
“So, where are you from?” she asked again.
I sighed, “Okay, you win. I am from the planet Dragselia.”
Jennifer gasped, quickly jumping from the couch and backing away from me. It was exactly the reaction I was worried about. Her kind didn’t know about the difference between Infernians and Dragselians. To them, we were all strange, alien, shapeshifters who slaughtered thousands without cause. The reality of it was much different but I didn’t know that she was going to give me the opportunity to explain.
“Jennifer, I am not the monster you think I am,” I whispered softly. “My people have long been tied to the Infernians when we shouldn’t be. We do not murder, plunder, and destroy like they do.”
“Then why are you here? Why were you in Vaxivia space?”
“My brothers and I were traveling to Artax when Infernians shot us down. We had no defenses.”
“That’s not like Dragselians to be caught off guard. Sounds like your kind needs a lesson in travel safety.”
I glared at her, “We took every precaution we could, which is why we had no defense, no insignia, no escorts. We were supposed to be undetected, but I suspect there was a traitor among my people back on Dragselia.”
“A traitor? No escort?” she muttered, slowly putting together the pieces.
I didn’t know if I was ready for her to see the truth. The last thing I wanted was more drama. I had no time to coddle her. I needed to find my brothers who, no doubt, were not fairing as well as I was. This planet was a mixture of friends and foes. Some swore allegiance to the treaty between our kinds and some, like Jennifer had, still grouped us together with our nemesis, the Infernians. The link between us and them was long and sordid, not one that I had time to go into with her.
“Just who the hell are you?”
“I am the second eldest son of the late King Patabu, ruler of Dragselia. Per our custom, my brothers and I were going to live in exile on Artax when we were shot down by Infernian troopers. I can only hope that they think they killed us all. Otherwise, they will come here looking for us.”
“Wow, that’s a lot,” Jennifer muttered.
“I know, I need to find them though. I would be able to track their pods through my own if I can get back to it. I will need your help though Jennifer.”
Her eyes grew wide. “My help?”
“You seemed to get me past the outpost guards the first time, I’m hoping that you can do the same. I don’t know how long we will be gone though. I know that it's asking a great deal from you. There is no one else I’m afraid.”
“I don’t know,” Jennifer whispered. “I just don’t know.”
“Jennifer, my brothers are the only family that I have. My father is dead and I have been exiled from my home. This planet is not where I want to live out my days. The people seem less than welcoming to creatures of different races.”
“I know. Most of those who make Vaxivia their home only does so because they don’t know anywhere else. I want to help you, really, I do. I just don’t know that I can. My life here is quiet and simple. At least it was,” she said with a frown.
I reached out and took her hand into mine. I was only looking to comfort her, I could never have known that it would light a spark
between us. She gasped and quickly pulled her hand away from mine. My body was on fire, I felt like an Infernian as the desire coursed through my veins. No stranger to romance, I’d never felt such a powerful connection before, especially not with a humanoid.
“This is a lot to process. Do I have to answer you right away?”
The reality of it was that every second my brothers were left alone; their fate became more uncertain. I needed to find them as quickly as possible. Still, rushing Jennifer wasn’t the way. It would only make her mistrust me more. I needed to give her a chance to see that I wasn’t going to hurt her. She needed to first believe that I wasn’t an Infernian sent to corrupt her quiet life.
“Take all the time you need, Jennifer. As you think, though, please remember my brothers’ lives are at stake.”
Silently, she nodded her head and rose from the couch. I didn’t want her to leave. I wanted her to stay with me through the night as I slowly stripped away her clothing and kissed her tender, pale skin. I shook my head, trying to free my mind from the spell that Jennifer had put me under.
“Sleep,” she whispered from the door of her bedroom. “You need time to heal and I need to think.”
“Goodnight, Jennifer,” I replied before she closed the door.
I laid back against the awkwardly small couch, my wounds healed, but still tender. I tried to sleep, but it eluded me as I thought of the enchanting woman just a few yards away from me. I was no fool, she would be the death of me if I wasn’t careful.
Chapter 4
Jennifer
I tossed and turned most of the night, wondering how my quiet life had taken such a sharp turn. When I woke in the early morning hours, it was only to stop myself from having yet another wild dream about Zaruv. I sighed and gazed absentmindedly at the ceiling. I would need to make a decision but it wasn’t going to be an easy one. Leaving the clinic would be a challenge, it was spending, even more, time alone with the alien that scared me senseless. I didn’t fear for my life but I did fear for my heart and every other part of my body.
